Facilitation of payments between counterparties by a central counterparty

ABSTRACT

A system for moving money between accounts of traders by a central counterparty to facilitate payments, i.e. the movement of funds, there between is disclosed which provides a flexible mechanism which supports simpler accounting, new types of derivatives contracts as well new types fees. The disclosed futures contract, referred to as a “payer” contract, comprises a “no-uncertainty” futures contract, i.e. the initial value and settlement value parameters are defined, that leverages the mechanisms of the clearing system to, for example, accommodate related payments. Accordingly, a 1-to-many relationship between contracts and prices is provided whereby each price component may be assigned its own payer contract. The function of the payer contract may be to guarantee the movement of money from related positions. In one embodiment, payer contracts are dynamically created whenever a payment is needed.

BACKGROUND

Futures Exchanges, referred to herein also as an “Exchange”, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), provide a marketplace where futures and options on futures are traded. Futures is a term used to designate all contracts covering the purchase and sale of financial instruments or physical commodities for future delivery or cash settlement on a commodity futures exchange. A futures contract is a legally binding agreement to buy or sell a commodity at a specified price at a predetermined future time. An option is the right, but not the obligation, to sell or buy the underlying instrument (in this case, a futures contract) at a specified price within a specified time. Each futures contract is standardized and specifies commodity, quality, quantity, delivery date and settlement. Cash Settlement is a method of settling a futures contracts by cash rather than by physical delivery of the underlying asset whereby the parties settle by paying/receiving the loss/gain related to the contract in cash when the contract expires.

Typically, the Exchange provides a “clearing house” which is a division of the Exchange through which all trades made must be confirmed, matched and settled each day until offset or delivered. The clearing house is an adjunct to the Exchange responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining performance bond funds, regulating delivery and reporting trading data. Essentially mitigating credit. Clearing is the procedure through which the Clearing House becomes buyer to each seller of a futures contract, and seller to each buyer, also referred to as a “novation,” and assumes responsibility for protecting buyers and sellers from financial loss by assuring performance on each contract. This is effected through the clearing process, whereby transactions are matched. A clearing member is a firm qualified to clear trades through the Clearing House. In the case of the CME's clearing house, all clearing members not specifically designated as Class B members are considered Class A clearing members. In the CME there are three categories of clearing members: 1) CME clearing members, qualified to clear transactions for all commodities; 2) IMM clearing members, qualified to clear trades for only IMM and IOM commodities; and 3) IMM Class B clearing members, solely limited to conducting proprietary arbitrage in foreign currencies between a single Exchange-approved bank and the IMM and who must be guaranteed by one or more Class A non-bank CME or IMM clearing member(s). Note that a “member” is a broker/trader registered with the Exchange.

As an intermediary, the Exchange bears a certain amount of risk in each transaction that takes place. To that end, risk management mechanisms protect the Exchange via the Clearing House. The Clearing House establishes clearing level performance bonds (margins) for all Exchange products and establishes minimum performance bond requirements for customers of Exchange products. A performance bond, also referred to as a margin, is the funds that must be deposited by a customer with his or her broker, by a broker with a clearing member or by a clearing member with the Clearing House, for the purpose of insuring the broker or Clearing House against loss on open futures or options contracts. This is not a part payment on a purchase. The performance bond helps to ensure the financial integrity of brokers, clearing members and the Exchange as a whole. The Performance Bond to Clearing House refers to the minimum dollar deposit which is required by the Clearing House from clearing members in accordance with their positions. Maintenance, or maintenance margin, refers to a sum, usually smaller than the initial performance bond, which must remain on deposit in the customer's account for any position at all times. The initial margin is the total amount of margin per contract required by the broker when a futures position is opened. A drop in funds below this level requires a deposit back to the initial margin levels, i.e. a performance bond call. If a customer's equity in any futures position drops to or under the maintenance level because of adverse price action, the broker must issue a performance bond/margin call to restore the customer's equity. A performance bond call, also referred to as a margin call, is a demand for additional funds to bring the customer's account back up to the initial performance bond level whenever adverse price movements cause the account to go below the maintenance.

The accounts of individual members, clearing firms and non-member customers doing business through the Exchange must be carried and guaranteed to the Clearing House by a clearing member. As mentioned above, in every matched transaction executed through the Exchange's facilities, the Clearing House is substituted as the buyer to the seller and the seller to the buyer, with a clearing member assuming the opposite side of each transaction. The Clearing House is an operating division of the Exchange, and all rights, obligations and/or liabilities of the Clearing House are rights, obligations and/or liabilities of the Exchange. Clearing members assume full financial and performance responsibility for all transactions executed through them and all positions they carry. The Clearing House, dealing exclusively with clearing members, holds each clearing member accountable for every position it carries regardless of whether the position is being carried for the account of an individual member, for the account of a non-member customer, or for the clearing member's own account. Conversely, as the contra-side to every position, the Clearing House is held accountable to the clearing members for the net settlement from all transactions on which it has been substituted as provided in the Rules.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary network for trading futures contracts, including in which payer contracts may be implemented, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 a block diagram of an exemplary implementation of the system of FIG. 1 for facilitating payments between counterparties, e.g. first and second traders, by a central counterparty.

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart showing operation of the system of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative embodiment of a general computer system 400 for use with the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS AND PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A system for moving money between accounts of traders by a central counterparty to facilitate payments, i.e. the movement of funds, there between is disclosed which provides a flexible mechanism which supports simpler accounting, new types of derivatives contracts as well as new types of fees. As was discussed above, in futures contract clearing, a margin account offsets losses or gains related to the price change of a contract. If a trader's contract price increases or decreases, the change in value is reflected in the margin account. In fact, generally the only way to move money in or out of a margin account is by changing the price of the futures contract. This is a one-to-one relationship: one contract, one cash flow. Current systems, however, cannot handle related cash flows like coupons, interest on variation margin, or other periodic or occasional payments made by one trader to another while the related position remains open, e.g. a one-to-many relationship: one contract, two or more cash flows. In the over-the-counter (“OTC”) market, for example, if a trader's position decreases, the trader must make a cash payment (collateral) to the prime broker account of the counterparty. An important distinction in OTC markets is that any collateral in the prime broker account of a counterparty remains the property of the trader, and thus the trader is entitled to at least one additional margin account cash flow, which is interest on the collateral. Current futures contract clearing systems do not support this type of payment requiring separate/external ad hoc payment and accounting mechanisms to manage.

Exchange derivative contracts having a periodic or sporadic payment from one party to the contract to the other; or, a payment between the exchange and a party to a derivatives contract, have been proposed. However, a problem with such payments is that exchange clearing systems must be coordinated with adjacent non-exchange owned and operated bookkeeping services and systems to account for and manage these related payments. So even if the exchange were to configure its systems accordingly to accommodate such periodic or other related payments, difficulties are often experienced in coordinating these capabilities with the (many) bookkeeping service providers or the (many) proprietary bookkeeping systems, such as “front-end” independent software vendors (“ISV's”) and “back-end” bookkeeping services that interact with the Exchange. Thus, acceptance of novel contracts that utilize such periodic payments may be impeded.

The disclosed futures contract, referred to as a “payer” contract, comprises a “no-uncertainty” futures contract, i.e. the initial value and settlement value parameters are defined and/or pre-determined and, thereby, the buyer and seller are not exposed to market risk. The disclosed payer contract leverages the mechanisms of the clearing system to accommodate, for example, a related, e.g. life cycle, payment featured by a traditional contract to which it may be paired. Accordingly, a 1-to-many relationship between contracts and prices is provided whereby each price component may be assigned its own payer contract. The function of the payer contract is to guarantee, by creating a defined and riskless position value and settlement value, the movement of money from related positions. In one embodiment, payer contracts are dynamically created whenever a payment is needed in relation to some other position held by the parties, though they may be manually created in such situations as well. In addition, the traders among which the payment is to be transferred need not know of each other, the disclosed mechanism, and the central counterparty underpinnings, facilitating anonymous payments there between.

The disclosed embodiments have application with respect to a potentially wide variety of exchange traded, multi-laterally cleared derivatives contracts and have the advantage of being “implementable” by an Exchange without explicit coordination with adjacent non-exchange owned and operated bookkeeping service providers. In particular, any contract structure that contemplates a “pass-through” of monetary value for the purposes of creating a pseudo coupon payment, dividend payment, fee payment, swap payment, rolling spot interest pass-through payment, etc. may use the disclosed embodiments to effect payment.

Derivative contracts, such as those traded or cleared at CME Group, have become increasingly complex in recent years. In particular, the demand to replicate the operational requirements of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives with their emphasis on customization has proven to be challenging. The disclosed payer contract may address these issues and difficulties,

For example, consider a contract that replicates an interest rate swap (“IRS”) which, typically, contemplates periodic swaps of cash calculated by reference to a fixed and a floating interest rate. It will be appreciated that such occasional payments are not a standard feature of futures contracts and are not simply a function of the daily mark-to-market (“MTM”) of a futures contract by reference to the daily settlement price. Rather, standard futures contracts contemplate a single “reckoning” upon a single final settlement date.

A payer contract may be generated by an Exchange, such as CME Group, so as to flow seamlessly into adjacent private systems, including back-end bookkeeping service systems, obviating the necessity for the bookkeeping service to build out new capabilities. That is, while the Exchange, and/or Clearing House thereof, may still need to build the capability of generating payer contracts, such as on an automated basis, when these auto-generated contracts are created, they may flow into accounts that are kept in adjacent bookkeeping systems easily.

In one embodiment a payer contract may be valued on a “binary basis”, referred to as a “binary option,” at either $0 or $1, at the discretion of the Exchange. The “switch” may be set by the Exchange in the same way that a cash-settled futures contract is valued at a particular value on its final settlement date. Thus, an account holding a long payer contract may receive either $0 or $1 on the final settlement date of the contract. An account holding a short payer contract may receive either $0 or be obligated to pay $1 on the final settlement date of the contract.

It will be understood that a margin account offsets gains or losses related to the price change of a futures contract held by a trader. If a trader holds a “long” position (obligated to buy) on a contract for which the price increases or holds a “short” position (obligated to sell) on a contract for which the price decreases, the trader's risk of loss goes down and their margin requirement will go down which may result in funds being credited to their margin account by the clearing and margin mechanisms of the Exchange, the crediting occurring substantially simultaneously with a debiting of similar magnitude from the margin account of the trader holding the counter position. That is, for the trader holding a long position on a contract for which the price decreases or holding a short position on a contract for which the price increases, the trader's risk of loss goes up and their margin requirement will go up which may result in funds being debited from their margin account. The clearing organization of the central counter party automatically determines the daily contract settlement prices and corresponding margin requirements for the traders and automatically moves the funds as appropriate to ensure performance by the parties. In the case of a cash-settled contract, at the settlement date, the buyer and the seller may simply exchange the difference in the associated cash positions. The cash position is the difference between the spot price of the asset on the settlement date and the agreed upon price as dictated by the future contract. If the spot price is less than the contract price, the buyer pays the seller the difference. If the spot price is more than the contract price, the seller pays the buyer the difference. This cash settlement may be effected via the margin accounts of the traders as described above.

By generating payer contracts on an automated basis in particular accounts held at the Clearing House, funds may effectively be moved from one party, the “payor”, to the other party, the “payee”, of contracts booked on the Exchange. That is, in the case of binary payer contracts, by assigning a quantity of contracts based on the payment amount, which may be determined at, or prior to, settlement, the appropriate amount may be paid by the payor to the payee. Given the operation of the margining systems of the Exchange, this may be accomplished by valuing the position in the contracts at a zero value and then setting a non-zero value, e.g. $1 per contract, at settlement, thereby creating an increase in contract value and a gain for the long position and loss for the short position, the margining mechanisms of the Exchange automatically, or naturally, moving the appropriate funds from the account of the short trader to the account of the long trader. Conversely, the position in the contracts may be initially valued at a non-zero amount, e.g. $1, and then settled at a value of zero, thereby creating a decrease in the contract value and a loss for long position and a gain for the short position, the margining mechanisms of the Exchange automatically, or naturally, moving the appropriate funds from the account of the long trader to the account of the short trader. In either case, the initial contract value and settlement value, and assignment of corresponding long and short positions to the payor and payee, are implementation dependent. The utility of the disclosed payer contracts may be extended and applied in many other ways as described below.

It will be appreciated that construction of a payer contract as a “binary option” valued at either $0 or $1 at expiration may imply certain limitations. Consider that some systems of the Exchange or adjacent front-end or back-end systems may be limited in terms of the field size reserved in their record keeping systems or databases for quantity of futures contracts traded or held. For example, if a system is constructed to reserve 4 decimal digits, or the binary equivalent thereof, for the quantity field, the maximum number of futures contracts may be limited to 9,999. Or, if the quantity field is limited to 5 digits, the maximum quantity may be 99,999. This may be problematic if the value to be transferred is greater than $1 times that maximum quantity.

Thus, in an alternate embodiment, an “analog” payer contract may be defined instead of, or in addition to, the binary payer contract. It will be recognized that the binary payer contract is a variant of the analog payer contract in which case it need not be specifically defined. Analog payer contracts may be valued on an analog scale akin to a standard index futures contract, having a quantity, which may be greater than or equal to 1, and price associated therewith. Thus, they may be cash-settled at, for example, a multiplier $X, e.g. a pseudo quantity, multiplied by an arbitrary value or Final Settlement Price that may range from infinity (∞) to negative infinity (−∞). Alternatively, the multiplier may be altered, e.g. instead of establishing the multiplier at $1, it may be at $0.01, $10, $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 as appropriate for the specific application. The multiplier and final settlement price may be determined based on the amount of the payment to be made and, for example, the respective record keeping fields sizes, i.e. such that the magnitude of the respective multiplier/quantity and settlement price values can be handled by the record keeping systems, e.g. to avoid overflow, and still be used to handle the expected payment amounts. It will be further appreciated that the balancing of the magnitude of the multiplier versus the magnitude of the price may vary but still achieve the same payment amount and, therefore, may be based on other factors such as the convenience of the traders in viewing, reporting and comprehending the values, etc.

For example, an analog payer contract having an initial value of zero, may be valued at $1× Final Settlement Price at settlement. The Final Settlement Price may be established at 10,000. Thus, the analog payer contract is valued at $10,000 (=$1×10,000.00). The account holding a single long position (quantity=1) in the analog payer contract may receive $10,000 while the account holding a single short position pays $10,000.

Payer contracts may have many applications, such as in the context of exchange cleared interest rate swaps (“IRS”) where these contracts may be used to move the “price alignment interest” (“PAI”). For example, the buyer of an IRS may be required to pay the seller a value calculated by reference to a fixed rate of interest on a periodic basis for the life of the transaction. The seller of an IRS may be required to pay the buyer a value calculated by reference to a floating or dynamic rate of interest on a periodic basis for the life of the transaction. Typically, these payments are “netted” so that gross values are not transferred but only net values. Payer contracts may be utilized to provide for such transfers of value.

Payer contracts may also be: linked with interest rate derivatives contracts for purposes of making what may essentially be regarded as coupon payments from one party of the trade to the other; linked with equity based derivatives contracts for purposes of making what may essentially be regarded as dividend payments from one party of the trade to the other; and/or used to implement rolling spot contracts which are established from time to time in the context of FX markets and are designed to price in manner similar to the spot value of a currency by requiring a, typically, daily payment that reflects the interest rate differential between the two currencies.

Alternatively, or in addition thereto, payer contracts may be used to implement fee payments, such as transaction fees. The typical exchange fee model is based on volume or turnover, i.e., when a trade is consummated, both buyer and seller pay a pre-determined exchange fee. However, futures contracts do not typically contemplate fees based on the value or notional value of the underlying instrument, which may be considered in a manner similar to a management fee typically associated with fund investments. While there have been some attempts to collect what may be regarded as a form of management or holding fee in the context of CME TRAKRS, i.e. non-traditional futures contracts designed to provide customers with a cost-effective way to invest in a broad-based index of stocks, bonds, currencies or other financial instruments avoiding, for example, the need for a portfolio manager and potential adverse tax consequences, and some over-the-counter commodity indexes listed on CME Group facilities, these products and this fee system required complex programming and coordination with back-end bookkeeping services. Payer contracts may be created to pay these fees from an account to the account of the Exchange or possibly to other accounts held by those with rights in a particular contract or other arrangements to share in fees.

The disclosed payer contracts may be created with various nomenclature designations, e.g., coupons, dividends, rolling spot payments, swap payment, fee, etc. By attaching such nomenclature to these contracts, akin to the way that the term “E-mini S&P 500 futures” may be associated in clearing and bookkeeping systems with the ticker symbol “ES,” the purpose of such payer contract may be made transparent to those examining an account statement. Likewise, payer contracts with different underlying purposes may be constructed with different contract terms and conditions as deemed most conducive to the purpose.

While the disclosed embodiments will be described in reference to the CME, it will be appreciated that these embodiments are applicable to any Exchange, including those which trade in equities and other securities. The CME Clearing House clears, settles and guarantees all matched transactions in CME contracts occurring through its facilities. In addition, the CME Clearing House establishes and monitors financial requirements for clearing members and conveys certain clearing privileges in conjunction with the relevant exchange markets.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a block diagram of an exemplary network 100 for trading futures contracts, including in which payer contracts may be implemented, according to the disclosed embodiments. The network 100 couples market participants 104, 106, such as those entities 104 wishing or needing to make a payment, also referred to as payors, and those entities 106 to which the payment is to be made, also referred to as payees, with an exchange 108, such as the CME, also referred to as a central counterparty or intermediary, via a communications network 102, such as the Internet, an intranet or other public or private, secured or unsecured communications network or combinations thereof. The network 100 may also be part of, or alternatively coupled with a larger trading network, allowing market participants 104 106 to trade other products, such as futures contracts, options contracts, foreign exchange instruments, etc., via the exchange 108, including derivatives contracts featuring periodic or occasional payments prior to settlement. It will be appreciated that the plurality of entities utilizing the disclosed embodiments, e.g. the market participants 104, 106, may be referred to as payors, payees, lenders, borrowers, traders, market makers or by other nomenclature reflecting the role that the particular entity is performing with respect to the disclosed embodiments and that a given entity may perform more than one role depending upon the implementation and the nature of the particular transaction being undertaken, as well as the entity's contractual and/or legal relationship with another market participant 104 106 and/or the exchange 108.

Herein, the phrase “coupled with” is defined to mean directly connected to or indirectly connected through one or more intermediate components. Such intermediate components may include both hardware and software based components. Further, to clarify the use in the pending claims and to hereby provide notice to the public, the phrases “at least one of <A>, <B>, . . . and <N>” or “at least one of <A>, <B>, . . . <N>, or combinations thereof” are defined by the Applicant in the broadest sense, superseding any other implied definitions herebefore or hereinafter unless expressly asserted by the Applicant to the contrary, to mean one or more elements selected from the group comprising A, B, . . . and N, that is to say, any combination of one or more of the elements A, B, . . . or N including any one element alone or in combination with one or more of the other elements which may also include, in combination, additional elements not listed.

The exchange 108 implements the functions of matching 110 buy/sell transactions, clearing 112 those transactions, settling 114 those transactions and managing risk 116 among the market participants 104 106 and between the market participants and the exchange 108, as well as payment functionality 122 for administering payments between payors and payees as will be described. The exchange 108 may be include or be coupled with one or more database(s) 120 or other record keeping system which stores data related to open, i.e. un-matched, orders, matched orders which have not yet been delivered, as well as payments made or owing, or combinations thereof.

Typically, the exchange 108 provides a “clearing house” (not shown) which is a division of the Exchange 108 through which all trades made must be confirmed, matched and settled each day until offset or delivered. The clearing house is an adjunct to the Exchange 108 responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining performance bond funds, regulating delivery and reporting trading data. Essentially mitigating credit. Clearing is the procedure through which the Clearing House becomes buyer to each seller of a futures contract, and seller to each buyer, also referred to as a “novation,” and assumes responsibility for protecting buyers and sellers from financial loss by assuring performance on each contract. This is effected through the clearing process, whereby transactions are matched. A clearing member is a firm qualified to clear trades through the Clearing House.

In the presently disclosed embodiments, the Exchange 108 assumes an additional role as the central counterparty in payment transactions, i.e., the Exchange 108, via the margin mechanisms, will become the payee to each payor and payor to each payee, and assume responsibility for protecting payees and payors from financial loss by assuring performance on each payment contract, as is done in normal futures transactions. Additionally, the Exchange 108 may further assume the role as administrator of products, i.e. derivatives contracts, which require payments, computing when a payment is due, computing the amount of the payment and automatically generating the payer contracts to effect the payment by the due date. As used herein, the term “Exchange” 108 will refer to the centralized clearing and settlement mechanisms, risk management systems, etc., as described below, used for futures trading, including the described enhancements to facilitate payment transactions. By assuming this intermediary role and employing credit screening and risk management mechanisms, derivatives contracts having periodic or occasional payments may be implemented for parties desiring such contracts. Further, additional revenue sources for the Exchange may be facilitated, such as account maintenance fees on accounts holding open futures positions.

Referring back to FIG. 1, a system 124 for facilitating a payment between a first trader 104 and a second trader 106 by a central counterparty 108 which requires the first and second traders 104 106 to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses. The system includes an account database 120 stored in a memory 404 discussed below with reference to FIG. 4, the account database 120 comprising a first account record associated with the first trader 104 which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader 104, and a second account record associated with the second trader 106 which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader 106.

The system 124 further includes a payment processor 122 coupled with the database 120, or memory 404 storing it, and operative to determine the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader 104 106 to the other of the first or second trader 104 106 at a settlement date, wherein the payment processor is further operative to assign the first trader 104 a first position in a futures contract characterized by the settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assignment, and assign the second trader 106 a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders not being identified to each other. In one embodiment, the payment processor 122 is operative to determine the payment amount upon occurrence of the settlement date. Alternatively, the payment amount is determined in advance of the settlement date.

The system 124 further includes a settlement processor 114 coupled with the database 120, or memory 404 storing it, and operative to value, upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the difference being based on the determined payment amount.

In addition, the system 123 includes a margin processor 116 coupled with the settlement processor 114 and the database 120, or memory 404, and operative to modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader 104 and a debit from the account of the second trader 106 in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader 106, and modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader 104 and a credit to the account of the second trader 106 in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader 104.

In one embodiment, the payment processor 122 may be further operative to automatically assign the first and second positions to the first and second traders 104 106 based on a second position in a second instrument held by the first trader 104 to which the second trader 106 is a counterparty. For example, the second instrument may include a interest rate derivative, the payment comprising a coupon payment, the second instrument may include an equity based derivatives contract, the payment comprising a dividend payment, the second instrument may include a foreign exchange spot contract, the payment comprising an interest rate differential payment, the second instrument may include interest rate swap, the payment comprising an interest payment, the second instrument may include a loan of collateral, the payment comprising an interest payment, the payment may include a transaction fee, or combinations thereof.

In one embodiment, the quantity of futures contract may be 1, the payment processor 122 being further operative to assign the first and second positions in a plurality of the futures contract, the quantity of the plurality of the futures contract being determined based on the payment amount. For example, the value of the first and second positions as of the assignment may be zero wherein the spot value is non-zero. Alternatively, the spot value may be valued based on a multiplier and a final settlement value, wherein the multiplier may be 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00, or some other value.

In one embodiment, the value of the first and second positions as of the assignment may be non-zero, such as based on a multiplier and a final settlement value, and wherein the spot value may be zero. The multiplier may include 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00, or some other value.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of an exemplary implementation of the system 124 for facilitating payments between counterparties, e.g. first and second traders, by a central counterparty which requires the first and second traders to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses, the central counterparty comprising a processor 202 and a memory 204 coupled therewith, such as the processor 402 and memory 404 shown in FIG. 4 and described in more detail below. The system 124 includes an account database 120 stored in the memory 204, the account database 120 comprising a first account record associated with the first trader 104 which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader 104, and a second account record associated with the second trader 106 which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader 106. The system 124 further includes first logic 206 stored in the memory 204 and executable by processor 202 to determine the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader 104 106 to the other of the first or second trader 104 106 at a settlement date. The first logic 206 may be further executable to assign the first trader 104 a first position in a futures contract characterized by the settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assignment, and assign the second trader 106 a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders 104 106 not being identified to each other.

The system 124 further includes second logic 208 stored in the memory 204 and executable by the processor 202 to value, upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the difference being based on the determined payment amount.

In addition, the system 124 includes third logic 210 stored in the memory 204 and executable by the processor 202 to modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader 104 and a debit from the account of the second trader 106 in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader 106, and modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader 104 and a credit to the account of the second trader 106 in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader 104.

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart showing operation of the system of FIGS. 1 and 2. In particular FIG. 3 shows a computer implemented method of facilitating a payment between a first trader and a second trader by a central counterparty which requires the first and second traders to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses, the central counterparty comprising a payment processor 122, a settlement processor 114, a margin processor 116, and a memory (not shown) such as the memory 404 of FIG. 4, coupled with the payment, settlement and margin processors 122 114 116. The method includes: providing, by the central counterparty, an account database stored in the memory, the account database comprising a first account record associated with the first trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader, and a second account record associated with the second trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader (block 302); determining, by the payment processor, the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader to the other of the first or second trader at a settlement date (block 304), such as upon occurrence of the settlement date or prior thereto; assigning, by the payment processor, the first trader a first position in a futures contract characterized by the settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assigning (block 306); assigning, by the payment processor, the second trader a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders not being identified to each other (block 308); valuing, by the settlement processor upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the difference being based on the determined payment amount (block 310); modifying, by the margin processor, the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader and a debit from the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader (block 312); and modifying, by the margin processor, the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader and a credit to the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader (block 314).

In one embodiment, the assigning to the first and second traders is automatically performed by the central counterparty based on a second position in a second instrument held by the first trader to which the second trader is a counterparty. For example, the second instrument may include a interest rate derivative, the payment comprising a coupon payment, the second instrument may include an equity based derivatives contract, the payment comprising a dividend payment, the second instrument may include a foreign exchange spot contract, the payment comprising an interest rate differential payment, the second instrument may include interest rate swap, the payment comprising an interest payment, the second instrument may include a loan of collateral, the payment comprising an interest payment, the payment may include a transaction fee, or combinations thereof.

In one embodiment, the quantity of futures contract may be 1, the assigning of the first and second positions to the first and second traders respectively, further comprising assigning the first and second positions in a plurality of the futures contract, the quantity of the plurality of the futures contract being determined based on the payment amount.

In one embodiment, the value of the first and second positions as of the assigning may be zero and the spot value may be non-zero, such as based on a multiplier and a final settlement value. The multiplier may include 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00, or other value.

In embodiment, the value of the first and second positions as of the assigning may be non-zero wherein the spot value is zero. The value of the first and second positions may be based on a multiplier and a final settlement value where the multiplier may be 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00 or another value.

Referring to FIG. 4, an illustrative embodiment of a general computer system 400 is shown. The computer system 400 can include a set of instructions that can be executed to cause the computer system 400 to perform any one or more of the methods or computer based functions disclosed herein. The computer system 400 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., using a network, to other computer systems or peripheral devices. Any of the components discussed above may be a computer system 400 or a component in the computer system 400. The computer system 400 may implement a match engine, margin processing, payment or clearing function on behalf of an exchange, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, of which the disclosed embodiments are a component thereof.

In a networked deployment, the computer system 400 may operate in the capacity of a server or as a client user computer in a client-server user network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The computer system 400 can also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile device, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a communications device, a wireless telephone, a land-line telephone, a control system, a camera, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a printer, a pager, a personal trusted device, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. In a particular embodiment, the computer system 400 can be implemented using electronic devices that provide voice, video or data communication. Further, while a single computer system 400 is illustrated, the term “system” shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or sub-systems that individually or jointly execute a set, or multiple sets, of instructions to perform one or more computer functions.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the computer system 400 may include a processor 402, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or both. The processor 402 may be a component in a variety of systems. For example, the processor 402 may be part of a standard personal computer or a workstation. The processor 402 may be one or more general processors, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, servers, networks, digital circuits, analog circuits, combinations thereof, or other now known or later developed devices for analyzing and processing data. The processor 402 may implement a software program, such as code generated manually (i.e., programmed).

The computer system 400 may include a memory 404 that can communicate via a bus 408. The memory 404 may be a main memory, a static memory, or a dynamic memory. The memory 404 may include, but is not limited to computer readable storage media such as various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media, including but not limited to random access memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic tape or disk, optical media and the like. In one embodiment, the memory 404 includes a cache or random access memory for the processor 402. In alternative embodiments, the memory 404 is separate from the processor 402, such as a cache memory of a processor, the system memory, or other memory. The memory 404 may be an external storage device or database for storing data. Examples include a hard drive, compact disc (“CD”), digital video disc (“DVD”), memory card, memory stick, floppy disc, universal serial bus (“USB”) memory device, or any other device operative to store data. The memory 404 is operable to store instructions executable by the processor 402. The functions, acts or tasks illustrated in the figures or described herein may be performed by the programmed processor 402 executing the instructions 412 stored in the memory 404. The functions, acts or tasks are independent of the particular type of instructions set, storage media, processor or processing strategy and may be performed by software, hardware, integrated circuits, firm-ware, micro-code and the like, operating alone or in combination. Likewise, processing strategies may include multiprocessing, multitasking, parallel processing and the like.

As shown, the computer system 400 may further include a display unit 414, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flat panel display, a solid state display, a cathode ray tube (CRT), a projector, a printer or other now known or later developed display device for outputting determined information. The display 414 may act as an interface for the user to see the functioning of the processor 402, or specifically as an interface with the software stored in the memory 404 or in the drive unit 406.

Additionally, the computer system 400 may include an input device 416 configured to allow a user to interact with any of the components of system 400. The input device 416 may be a number pad, a keyboard, or a cursor control device, such as a mouse, or a joystick, touch screen display, remote control or any other device operative to interact with the system 400.

In a particular embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 4, the computer system 400 may also include a disk or optical drive unit 406. The disk drive unit 406 may include a computer-readable medium 410 in which one or more sets of instructions 412, e.g. software, can be embedded. Further, the instructions 412 may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particular embodiment, the instructions 412 may reside completely, or at least partially, within the memory 404 and/or within the processor 402 during execution by the computer system 400. The memory 404 and the processor 402 also may include computer-readable media as discussed above.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium that includes instructions 412 or receives and executes instructions 412 responsive to a propagated signal, so that a device connected to a network 420 can communicate voice, video, audio, images or any other data over the network 420. Further, the instructions 412 may be transmitted or received over the network 420 via a communication interface 418. The communication interface 418 may be a part of the processor 402 or may be a separate component. The communication interface 418 may be created in software or may be a physical connection in hardware. The communication interface 418 is configured to connect with a network 420, external media, the display 414, or any other components in system 400, or combinations thereof. The connection with the network 420 may be a physical connection, such as a wired Ethernet connection or may be established wirelessly as discussed below. Likewise, the additional connections with other components of the system 400 may be physical connections or may be established wirelessly.

The network 420 may include wired networks, wireless networks, or combinations thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, or WiMax network. Further, the network 420 may be a public network, such as the Internet, a private network, such as an intranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize a variety of networking protocols now available or later developed including, but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

While the computer-readable medium is shown to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” includes a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.

In a particular non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, the computer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories. Further, the computer-readable medium can be a random access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or optical medium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture carrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmission medium. A digital file attachment to an e-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives may be considered a distribution medium that is a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored.

In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limited embodiment, implementations can include distributed processing, component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing. Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein.

Although the present specification describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet and other packet switched network transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, HTTP, HTTPS) represent examples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents thereof.

The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many other embodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, the disclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangement designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) and is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed to less than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus, the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter.

It is therefore intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understood that it is the following claims, including all equivalents, that are intended to define the spirit and scope of this invention. 

We claim:
 1. A computer implemented method of facilitating a payment between a first trader and a second trader by a central counterparty which requires the first and second traders to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses, the central counterparty comprising a payment processor, a settlement processor, a margin processor, and a memory coupled with the payment, settlement and margin processors, the method comprising: providing, by the central counterparty, an account database stored in the memory, the account database comprising a first account record associated with the first trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader, and a second account record associated with the second trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader; determining, by the payment processor, the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader to the other of the first or second trader in advance of settlement thereof; assigning, automatically by the payment processor, the first trader a first position in a futures contract characterized by a settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assigning; assigning, automatically by the payment processor, the second trader a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders not being identified to each other, wherein the assigning to the first and second traders is automatically performed by the central counterparty based on another position in another instrument held by the first trader to which the second trader is a counterparty; valuing, by the settlement processor upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the spot value being based on the determined payment amount; modifying, by the margin processor, the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader and a debit from the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader; and modifying, by the margin processor, the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader and a credit to the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader.
 2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the other instrument comprises an interest rate derivative, the payment comprising a coupon payment.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the other instrument comprises an equity based derivatives contract, the payment comprising a dividend payment.
 4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the other instrument comprises a foreign exchange spot contract, the payment comprising an interest rate differential payment.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the other instrument comprises an interest rate swap, the payment comprising an interest payment.
 6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the other instrument comprises a loan of collateral, the payment comprising an interest payment.
 7. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the payment comprises a transaction fee.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the quantity of futures contract is 1, the assigning of the first and second positions to the first and second traders respectively, further comprising assigning the first and second positions in a plurality of the futures contract, the quantity of the plurality of the futures contract being determined based on the payment amount.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the value of the first and second positions as of the assigning is zero.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein the spot value is non-zero.
 11. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein the spot value is valued based on a multiplier and a final settlement value.
 12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 wherein the multiplier comprises a value selected from the group comprising 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00.
 13. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the value of the first and second positions as of the assigning is non-zero.
 14. The computer implemented method of claim 13 wherein the spot value is zero.
 15. The computer implemented method of claim 13 wherein the value of the first and second positions is based on a multiplier and a final settlement value.
 16. The computer implemented method of claim 15 wherein the multiplier comprises a value selected from the group comprising 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00.
 17. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the payment amount occurs upon occurrence of the settlement date.
 18. A system for facilitating a payment between a first trader and a second trader by a central counterparty which requires the first and second traders to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses, the system comprising: an account database stored in a memory, the account database comprising a first account record associated with the first trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader, and a second account record associated with the second trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader; a payment processor coupled with the memory and operative to determine the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader to the other of the first or second trader in advance of settlement thereof, wherein the payment processor is further operative to automatically assign the first trader a first position in a futures contract characterized by the settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assignment, and automatically assign the second trader a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders not being identified to each other, the payment processor being further operative to automatically assign the first and second positions to the first and second traders based on another position in another instrument held by the first trader to which the second trader is a counterparty; a settlement processor coupled with the memory and operative to value, upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the spot value being based on the determined payment amount; a margin processor coupled with the settlement processor and the memory and operative to modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader and a debit from the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader, and modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader and a credit to the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein the other instrument comprises an interest rate derivative, the payment comprising a coupon payment.
 20. The system of claim 18 wherein the other instrument comprises an equity based derivatives contract, the payment comprising a dividend payment.
 21. The system of claim 18 wherein the other instrument comprises a foreign exchange spot contract, the payment comprising an interest rate differential payment.
 22. The system of claim 18 wherein the other instrument comprises an interest rate swap, the payment comprising an interest payment.
 23. The system of claim 18 wherein the other instrument comprises a loan of collateral, the payment comprising an interest payment.
 24. The system of claim 18 wherein the payment comprises a transaction fee.
 25. The system of claim 18 wherein the quantity of futures contract is 1, the payment processor being further operative to assign the first and second positions in a plurality of the futures contract, the quantity of the plurality of the futures contract being determined based on the payment amount.
 26. The system method of claim 18 wherein the value of the first and second positions as of the assignment is zero.
 27. The system of claim 26 wherein the spot value is non-zero.
 28. The system of claim 26 wherein the spot value is valued based on a multiplier and a final settlement value.
 29. The system of claim 28 wherein the multiplier comprises a value selected from the group comprising 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00.
 30. The system of claim 18 wherein the value of the first and second positions as of the assignment is non-zero.
 31. The system of claim 30 wherein the spot value is zero.
 32. The system of claim 30 wherein the value of the first and second positions is based on a multiplier and a final settlement value.
 33. The system of claim 32 wherein the multiplier comprises a value selected from the group comprising 0.01, 0.10, 1.00, 10.00, 100.00, 1000.00, 10,000.00.
 34. The system of claim 1 wherein the payment processor is operative to determine the payment amount upon occurrence of the settlement date.
 35. A system for facilitating a payment between a first trader and a second trader by a central counterparty which requires the first and second traders to each maintain associated accounts in which funds are deposited to cover trading losses, the central counterparty comprising a processor and a memory coupled therewith, the system comprising: an account database stored in the memory, the account database comprising a first account record associated with the first trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the first trader, and a second account record associated with the second trader which includes data reflecting funds maintained on account to cover trading losses by the second trader; first logic stored in the memory and executable by processor to determine the amount of a payment to be made from one of the first or second trader to the other of the first or second trader in advance of settlement thereof; the first logic being further executable to automatically assign the first trader a first position in a futures contract characterized by the settlement date, a quantity and a price, the first position being characterized by a value based on the quantity and the price of the futures contract as of the assignment, and automatically assign the second trader a second position, counter to the first position, in the futures contract, the first and second traders not being identified to each other, the first logic being further executable to automatically assign the first and second positions to the first and second traders based on another position in another instrument held by the first trader to which the second trader is a counterparty; second logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor to value, upon occurrence of the settlement date, the futures contract at a spot value different from the price of the futures contract, the spot value being based on the determined payment amount; third logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor to modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a credit to the account of the first trader and a debit from the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the second trader, and modify the first and second account records in the account database to reflect a debit from the account of the first trader and a credit to the account of the second trader in the amount of the difference between the value of the first position and the spot value when the difference represents a loss for the first trader. 